H.E. Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Al Rabiah declared that the intensive efforts and endeavours of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference, held in Nairobi, had produced fruitful results, the most important of which was the success of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in maintaining its interests in the Negotiations of Agriculture and Commercial Treatment "RULES”, pointing out the importance of maintaining the advantages and flexibilities demanded by countries newly joined WTO, including the Kingdom, this is in exchange of the extensive commitments offered by those countries when joining the World Trade Organization.
The 10th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya during 15 – 19 December 2015, had been extended for one additional day to reach a consensus of all members. At the conclusion, the chairman of the Conference, Mrs. Amina Mohamed, Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Trade of the hosting country (Kenya), the Director-General of WTO Mr. Roberto Azevedo and the Ministers, facilitating the negotiations, confirmed reaching a formula for the Ministerial Declaration, acceptable by all, despite the dissatisfaction of some under developing countries, due to the absence of a clear text confirming the continuation of Doha Development Round.
The presented text reflects disagreement in the viewpoints among the Member States, regarding the fate of Doha Round, and disagreement in views on the inclusion of new topics in the future negotiations agenda, but it does emphasize that launching any new phase of multilateral negotiations on these issues will only be effective by consensus among the Member States.
Through the Kingdom`s efficient leadership role in the negotiations, the Saudi delegation, led by H.E. the Minister of Commerce and Industry had succeeded in preserving the Kingdom`s interests, regarding the Agriculture Negotiations and the Commercial Treatments "RULES", in addition to maintaining the benefits and flexibilities demanded by countries newly joined WTO, including the Kingdom, in exchange of the Extensive Commitments provided by those countries when joining WTO.
The Saudi delegation negotiated to change the name of the countries newly joined the WTO (RAMs) to Joined Countries, in accordance with the twelfth article of Marrakesh agreement that founded the WTO, in order to confirm the desire for enjoying such advantages and flexibilities, and not to be tied to the number of joining years, but to the volume of commitments.
An explicit and strong text had been included in the Ministerial Declaration, during the negotiations, exceeding the text contained at the 6th WTO Hong Kong Conference 2005, despite the opposition of some developed countries like the United States, Japan and the European Union. This is to protect the interests of the kingdom in the future negotiations, even if the negotiations of Doha Development Round would fail, where the Kingdom confirmed, during the negotiations, that it would not accept the issuance of a Ministerial Declaration, unless the said paragraph is included. The Kingdom was supported, for its firm position, by the People's Republic of China and Sultanate of Oman.